Pissarro's People takes a look at the figure painting of Camille Pissarro 1830-1903. This exhibition explores Pissarro's family ties, his friendships, and his involvement with social and political theories of this time.

Pissarro took an active interest in radical social and economic theory of the late 19th century. His paintings with figures reflect this interest. Pissarro often painted subjects which were far different from his peers. Among the French Impressionists, he is unique. Only Pissarro used his art to elevate the dignity of his subjects, showing a respect for common domestic maidservants or

The Harvest 1882

washerwomen or agricultural laborers busy with a harvest.

Pissarro believed that the miseries of a modern capitalist society would inevitably lead to revolution in Europe. He was an optimist, and envisioned a better world emerging, with health and abundance for all.

He expressed his optimism through his painting, especially his paintings of common laborers in a dignified light.

Beyond expressing dignity for common people, Pissarro's paintings also expressed his amazing loyalty and dedication to his family. The exhibition includes works of his wife Julie who had once been his mother's maid. Also included are paintings of his daughter Jeanne, and three of the four major known self portraits produced by Pissarro.

Although France was his adopted home most of his adult life, Pissarro was born and he died a Danish citizen. He was born in 1830 on the island of St. Thomas, part of the Danish West Indies. His father was a Sephardic Jew (Jews forced to leave Spain during the Inquisition of the 15th century). His father was Portuguese who married Pissarro's mother, a native Creole.

At age twelve, Pissarro was sent to the Savary Academy in Passy near Paris. Here he developed his natural talents of drawing and painting. Upon his return to St. Thomas, Pissarro became a student and friend of Danish painter Fritz Melbye. Together, they left St. Thomas for Caracas, Venezuela, where they worked as artists for two years, a time in which Pissarro worked intensively on his drawing. From Caracas, Pissarro moved to Paris in 1855 to work for Fritz's brother, artist Anton Melbye.

In Paris, after several attempts at advancing his art education, Pissarro settled on lessons with Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and became an avid plein air painter, completing his works outdoors.

Much later in his career in 1884, Pissarro was influenced by the

Jeanne with a Fan 1874

Self Portrait 1873

post impressionistic pointillists, Georges Seurat and Paul Signac. Part of what drove Pissarro's embracing of pointillism was his feeling that he wanted to break out of an "artistic mire." He returned to themes and subjects he had known during his youth in Venezuela, painting peasants who worked hard at making a living. He wanted to “educate the public” by painting people at work or at home in realistic settings, without idealizing their lives.

The last years of Pissarro's artistic life, he abandoned pointillism. He would return to his impressionist roots, although with a refined palette and a greater attention to detail in drawing.

(Jeanne Pissarro) Cocotte Reading 1889

This exhibition runs through January 22, 2012. Curator Dr. Richard R. Brettell brings together over 100 oil paintings and works on paper from public and private collections around the world. Ranging from Pissarro’s earliest years in Paris until his death in 1903, these works explore the three dimensions of his life that are essential to a full understanding of the human element in his art: his family ties, his friendships and his intense intellectual involvement with the social and political theories of his time. The title of the exhibition, Pissarro’s People, is not merely an allusion to his politics, but points to a larger attempt to explore all aspects of his humanism. Legion of Honor's website

The Haymakers 1893

Mme. Pissarro Sewing Beside a Window 1877

The Apple Harvest 1896

The Gardener c 1890

The Hanged Millionaire 1889-90

The Maidservant 1875

The Marketplace 1882

Washerwoman Study 1880

Footnote for Pissarro's People
... SF Call, Dec 7, 1903A unflattering note on Pissarro's Passing -- a reminder that
heroes of the past aren't always recognized in their own time.

At the time of the artist's passing in 1903, The San Francisco Call struck a sour note. On December 7th of that year, in one of its catch-all-columns entitled “Top of the Town and Topics of the Times” The Call quoted an unnamed eastern art critic who offered some aloof and prejudicial comments on the passing of Camille Pissarro and of impressionism in general. Although the Call refers to the comments of this unknown critic as "trite," they say nothing to counter the sentiment.

Under the subtitle, "Fanciful Artist," here’s what the SF Call's column "Talk of the Town and Topics of the Times" found fit to print. --- Fanciful Artist ---
“A well known art critic in the East has written the following trite review of the work of a famous painter of the impressionistic school:

“Camille Pissarro, the French painter, who died recently in Paris at the age of 73, was a native of the French Antilles, but went to France at an early age. He was a favorite pupil of Corot, but about thirty years ago he became one of the leaders of the impressionistic school. Pissarro’s early work was idealistic, as was natural to one who learned of Corot, but his later development would have much amazed that soul of simplicity and poetic vision. With Monet and Sisley he led the vagary of restlessness and discomfort, with nature in theatrical poses, trees as tremulous as reeds, water on the verge of catching fire, buildings as fragile as dreams, and the earth as hysterical *phantasmagoria. Pissarro was neither so able as Monet nor so incoherent as Sisley, but he made one note in the cacophony of so-called ‘impressionism.’”

(*phantasmagoria ... a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination.)

San Francisco's de Young hosts
Masters of Venice:Renaissance Painters of Passion and Power
from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The de Young offers a glimpse into the power and reach of the Hapsburgs by presenting some of the art which once graced their collections. Works by Titian, Giorgione, Veronese, Tintoretto, Mantegna, Palma, Bordone, Bossanoand and more are coming to the de Young on loan from the Gemäldegalerie of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Together, these works represent the range of Venetian Renaissance-era painting.

From RickSteves.com ... "At their peak of power in the 1500s, the Habsburg family ruled Austria, Germany, northern Italy, the Netherlands, and even Spain. And Vienna's Kunsthistorisches (Art History) Museum offers great art from throughout the realm. The Italian collection is particularly strong."

Mantegna Saint Sebastian

Masters of Venice: Renaissance Painters of Passion and Power from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna will be offered from October 29, 2011 - February 12, 2012.

The exhibit consists of 50 paintings by sixteenth-century Venetian painters Titian, Giorgione, Veronese, Tintoretto, Mantegna, and more, all on loan from the Gemäldegalerie of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Featured are outstanding examples of the work of these artists that were collected by the archdukes and emperors of the Habsburg family.

Giorgione Three Philosophers

Mantegna 1431 - 1506 Andrea Mantegna is credited with introducing spatial illusionism. By experimenting with perspective, such as lowering the horizon, he created a sense of greater monumentality in his subjects, much as one would experience looking at a statue on a pedestal. This is a skill he learned from his teacher, the sculptor Donatello, who taught him how to paint anatomically correct figures and how to compose figures with an accurate perspective view.

Giorgione c1477-1510 was born born Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco. Only six of his paintings are acknowledged to survive today. Not much is known of his short life of 33 years and he remains one of

the most mysterious figures in European painting. In 1500, he was a most successful twenty-three year old, commissioned to paint the portrait of Doge Agostino Barbarigo, the same year he met Leonardo da Vinci.

All accounts of Giorgione report him to have been a romantic, a great lover, musician, and given to artistic tastes for sensuous and imaginative grace. It is believed that Giorgione was Titian's master and that he died in the plague of 1510.

Titian 1488 - 1576 His real name was Tiziano Vecellio, but little is known as Titian. He was prolific and lived into his late 80's. Today, he is revered as the greatest Venetian artist of the 16th century. His works are noted for their remarkable use of color. His style was influential for over a hundred years, well into the 17th century. He produced paintings in a variety of genres, altar pieces, portraits, mythologies, and pastoral landscapes with figures. He died in the plague of 1576, and was the only victim of that plague to receive a church funeral.

Titian Danae

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News from our Gallery

An artist who garners a lot of attention at our gallery is Alexander Nepote. His layerist works are the subject of a special exhibition in Belmont at the Peninsula Museum of Art through Dec 18. Visit their website for more details.

We welcome the photography of Bodega Bay's own Diane Perry, which is gathering favorable attention at the gallery. There is a webpage with a sampling of her work.

Sonoma County's ARTrails will be held on October 15-16 and 22-23, including at Janet Moore's nearby studio in Bodega Bay. Be sure to get your map and artist directory. Linda Sorensen's studio downstairs at 1580 Eastshore Road will also be open. LindaSorensenPaintings.com Pelican Gallery in Petaluma is one of the sites for preview shows for ARTrails.

The new show of JC Henderson's large and gorgeous paintings of sea waves and creatures in them is meeting with much success among new and returning collectors at nearby Local Color Artist Gallery.

Petaluma has become quite an art destination, notably at Calabi Gallery, Riverfront Gallery, Vintage Bank, Pelican Gallery, and Pierre's Antiques, all along one area of Petaluma Boulevard. We recently stopped in to see the current exhibits and to say Hi.

We also stopped at the galleries of James Rieser and Josh Hardy in Carmel and were well impressed with what they have on view.

The Ren Brown Collection"Blue Consonant,"paintings and prints by Seiko Tachibana through Oct 9"Established in 1989 and specializes in contemporary art from both sides of the Pacific. We offer rotating exhibits throughout the year. A major focus is modern Japanese prints. Some of the world-famous artists from Japan are SHINODA Toko, TANAKA Ryohei, NAKAYAMA Tadashi, and Daniel KELLY. These woodblock, lithograph and etching prints may be abstract or representational, and often include handmade paper."http://www.renbrown.com | Back to the Top

IN DUNCANS MILLS Christopher Queen Galleries3 miles east of Hwy 1 on Hwy 116 on the Russian RiverPICTURESQUE - 35th Anniversary ShowChampagne Reception Oct 2, 1 pm to 3 pm
Christopher Queen Galleries was established in 1976 by Nancy Ferreira and her mother, Alfhild Wallen in the small village of Duncans Mills, California, population 20! It was named after Christopher Queen, a Pony Express rider who then settled in Duncans Mills in the 1870’s and built the hotel and livery stable where the gallery was originally located. Christopher Queen Galleries grew from a small gallery specializing in both antique and contemporary prints to a renowned gallery hanging important Early California and Contemporary paintings. http://www.christopherqueengallery.com |707-865-1318| Back to the Top

IN Santa Rosa The Annex Galleries specializing in 19th, 20th, and 21st century
American and European fine printsThe Annex Galleries is a member of the International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA).http://www.AnnexGalleries.com| Back to the Top

IN VALLEY FORD West County DesignWest County Design provides an unexpected center of artistic sophistication in the charming town of Valley Ford in West Sonoma County. The business serves as a showroom for Bohemian Stoneworks, Current Carpets and Craig Collins Furniture. The gallery also showcases local artisans and quality furnishings for home and business.Bohemian Stoneworks, Current Carpets and Craig Collins Furniture are known for collaborating closely with both business and residential clients and designers from concept to installation. The result is uniquely personal and functional pieces that reflect our clients’ personalities and needs(Across from the Valley Ford Hotel and its famed Rocker Oysterfeller's Restaurant)http://www.westcountydesign.com |Back to the Top

IN PETALUMAVintage Bank AntiquesVintage Bank Antiques is located in Historic Downtown Petaluma, corner of Western Avenue and Petaluma Blvd. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Warren Davis and the rest of the team at Vintage Bank Antiques has assembled a spectacular inventory of paintings. From the 18th Century to Contemporary Artists. We have paintings to suit every price point and collector level.
If you have a painting for sale, please consider Vintage Bank Antiques. Contact Warren Davis directly at WarrenDavisPaintings@yahoo.com101 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, CA 94952, ph: 707.769.3097http://vintagebankantiques.com | Back to the Top

The Walt Disney Family Museum tickets available onlineLocated on the grounds of the historic parade grounds
of San Francisco's famed Presidio 104 Montgomery StreetSan Francisco, CA 94129
Weds - Mon: 10:00 - 6:00, 415-345-6800
last ticket sale and entry is 4:45 pm (closed Tues)The museum tells Walt's story from his early days
through the creation of his famed "Mouse Factory"
and the creation of Disneyland. Displays present how animation was artfully produced in the
days before computers, explaining collabrative artistic,
technical, and imaginative processes
used by the studio's innovative and talented artists.
Well Worth a Visit!

San Franciscode Young MuseumPicasso
from Musée National Picasso, ParisLast Day ... October 10!Masters of Venice: Renaissance Painters of Passion and Power from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, ViennaOpening Oct 29 - Feb 12

BolinasBolinas Museumfeaturing their permanent collection,
including Ludmilla and Thadeus Welch, Arthur William Best, Jack Wisby, Russell Chatham, Alfred Farnsworth.(thumbnail to the right ... a portion of
Elizabeth Holland McDaniel's Bolinas Embarcadero,
the green roof building on Wharf Street is the Bolinas Museum)